What is "reduit"

A reduit is a fortified structure such as a citadel or a keep into which the defending troops can retreat when the outer defences are breached. The term is also used to describe an area of a country, which, through a ring of heavy fortifications or through enhancing through fortification the defences offered by natural features such as mountains, will be defended even when the rest of the county is occupied by a hostile power. . An entry for this word was first included in New English Dictionary, 1904.

• 1948 Times 31 Dec. 3/3 "The obsolete conception of a national reduit has been abandoned in favour of an extra-territorial base established in the Belgian Congo".
• 2003 Macpherson Amer. Intelligence War-time London vi. 177 "As for the Reduit (or Redoubt), this was the rumoured area for 'a last-ditch stand' in the Bavarian, Austrian and Italian Alps".

Reduit or Réduit may refer to:

• Reduit - a fortified structure such as a citadel
• Réduit, Moka - a suburb in the village of Moka, Mauritius
• Réduit national - a defensive belt of fortifications in Belgium
• Réduit du Trou-d'Enfer - a fortifications of Paris
• Réduit (Switzerland) - the Swiss National Redoubt